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Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : Stocks opened modestly lower after today's weekly initial claims report missed expectations by 28,000. The early weakness was erased before midday as the major averages rallied to their respective session highs. However, the slim gains were short-lived as disappointing quarterly results from Google (GOOG 695.00, -60.49) hit the wires early and weighed on the markets. The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw the biggest impact, as the index tumbled to fresh session lows before closing with a loss of 1.0%.

Google fell 8.0% after its earnings were reported at $9.03, which fell $1.63 short of the Capital IQ consensus estimate. Meanwhile, revenues came in at $11.87 billion, which represents a shortfall of about $540 million when compared to the Capital IQ analyst forecast. The results were met with heavy selling which took the stock down to its early September levels. In addition, many large tech stocks were also pressured.

A number of other technology components saw weakness following earnings. Mellanox (MLNX 77.98, -20.16) sank 20.5% after reporting its third quarter results. The semiconductor manufacturer beat both top and bottom line expectations, but cautious guidance gave investors cause for concern.

Cypress Semiconductor (CY 10.06, -0.90) slid 8.2% after reporting in-line earnings and lowering guidance below consensus.

Nokia (NOK 2.80, -0.14) slipped 4.8% despite beating on earnings and revenues.

Elsewhere, ASML Holdings (ASML 51.34, +1.26) gained 2.5% despite being downgraded to ‘sector perform' from ‘outperform' by RBC Capital. Note that yesterday ASML announced the acquisition of Cymer (CYMI 74.12, +2.67).

Telecom stocks were the top performing group as investors displayed caution and turned to defensive stocks. As a result of the risk-off trade, major wireless and landline carriers garnered interest. Verizon Communications (VZ 45.78, +1.06) advanced 2.4% after reporting in-line earnings and revenues. It should be noted that during the conference call, management said that capital expenditures will trend lower in 2013. This announcement is similar to sentiment expressed by numerous major companies which also plan to enact savings measures. Peers AT&T (T 36.02, +0.30), MetroPCS (PCS 11.15, +0.20), and Sprint Nextel (S 5.78, +0.05) all registered gains between 0.8% and 1.8%.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average settled higher by 0.2%. Within the complex, Union Pacific (UNP 125.34, +1.61) rose by 1.3% after reporting earnings of $2.19 and revenue of $5.34 billion. The results were mixed as the company's earnings exceeded Capital IQ consensus estimates by $0.02 while revenue fell about $30 million short of the Capital IQ forecast. Peer CSX (CSX 21.36, +0.17) added 0.8% despite being downgraded to ‘hold' from ‘buy' by Deutsche Bank.

Southwest Airlines (LUV 8.98, +0.03) rose by 0.3% after reporting in-line earnings and revenues. Other airlines also outperformed as Alaska Air (ALK 38.17, +0.40), Delta Air Lines (DAL 10.21, +0.02), and JetBlue Airways (JBLU 5.30, +0.04) all gained between 0.2% and 1.1%.

Meanwhile, Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG 3.54, +0.14) was the best performing stock in the transportation average. The shares of the oil tanker operator gained 4.1% after losing nearly 50.0% of their value since last Monday.

In today's economic data, the latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 388,000, which was higher than the 360,000 that had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. The tally was above the revised prior week count of 342,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to 3.252 million from 3.281 million.

Separately, the Philadelphia Fed Survey rose to 5.7 for October. That comes after September's reading of -1.9. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected that the Survey would improve to a -0.1 reading for the month of October.

Lastly, leading indicators for September increased by 0.6%, which is better than the 0.2% increase that had been widely forecast to follow prior month's decrease of 0.1%.

Tomorrow's economic data is limited to September existing home sales which will be announced at 10:00 ET.DJ30 -8.06 NASDAQ -31.25 SP500 -3.57 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 792/1.98 bln/1666 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1474/719.2 mln/1538

3:30 pm : A stronger dollar following the release of jobless claims data and the start of the EU Leaders Summit put pressure on precious metals during today's pit trade. Both gold and silver spent their entire sessions in the red, falling as low as $1739.00 per ounce and $32.74 per ounce respectively. Unable to erase much of the loss, gold settled 0.5% lower at $1744.80 per ounce, while silver closed with a 1.1% loss at $32.88 per ounce. a

Crude oil dipped to a session low of $90.66 per barrel moments after floor trade opened. It gained momentum in late morning action and managed to climb into the black. It brushed a session high of $92.59 per barrel and settled just 4 cents below the unchanged level at $92.00 per barrel.

Natural gas slid to a session low of $3.40 per MMBtu following inventory data that showed a build of 51 bcf when a build of 50 bcf was anticipated. However, the move quickly reversed and prices shot into positive territory. Natural gas continued to climb higher as settled with a 3.5% gain at $3.59 per MMBtu.DJ30 -14.74 NASDAQ -27.14 SP500 -3.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 840/1665.4 mln/1577 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1480/479 mln/1520

4:22PM Advanced Micro misses by $0.04, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 revs below consensus; announces restructuring (AMD) 2.62 -0.15 : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.20 per share, $0.04 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.16); revenues fell 24.9% year/year to $1.27 bln svs the $1.27 bln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs down 5-13% sequentially, which equates to roughly $1.10-1.21 bln, vs. $1.31 bln consensus.
Restructuring: AMD announced a new restructuring plan, a significant portion of which will be implemented in the fourth quarter of 2012, and will include a workforce reduction and site consolidations. AMD expects that the restructuring actions taken in the fourth quarter of 2012 will result in operational savings, primarily in operating expenses, of approximately $20 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and approximately $190 million in 2013. The savings will be largely driven through a reduction of AMD's global workforce by approximately 15 percent, which is expected to be largely completed in the fourth quarter of 2012. The company currently estimates it will record a restructuring expense in the fourth quarter of 2012 of approximately $80 million in connection with these actions.
AMD is also putting in place a business model to break even at an operating income level of $1.3 billion of quarterly revenue. The company is targeting to achieve this by the end of the third quarter of 2013.

4:18PM Rambus reports non-GAAP EPS of $0.08, reports revs in-line (RMBS) 4.94 -.04 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.08 per share, may not compare to the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ($0.04); revenues fell 42.7% year/year to $57.5 mln vs the $57.87 mln consensus. Co states that restructuring initiatives expected to provide overall net cash savings of $30-$35 mln annually. The company recorded a non-cash charge for the impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets in its Lighting and Display Technology Division of $35.5 mln.

4:09PM Flextronics beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q3 EPS and revenue below consensus (FLEX) : Reports Q2 (Sep) adjusted earnings of $0.26 per share, vs. prior guidance of $0.21-$0.26, and $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.23; revenues fell 22.9% year/year to $6.17 bln vs the $6.11 bln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q3, sees EPS of $0.18-$0.22 vs $0.26 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees Q3 revs of $5.8-$6.2 bln vs $6.35 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

4:09PM SanDisk beats by $0.14, beats on revs (SNDK) 42.86 -1.43 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.48 per share, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.34; revenues fell 10.1% year/year to $1.27 bln vs the $1.22 bln consensus. Co also reports Q3 gross margin of 31% vs 44% last year, and Operating margin of 12.9% vs 29.4% last year.

Co says "Our retail business delivered strong results in Q3 and we believe we gained share across all major geographies worldwide on the strength of the SanDisk brand... Our results also reflect a solid recovery in our mobile embedded business and we made good progress toward expanding our SSD product roadmap. We believe we are well positioned to build on our business momentum and improved industry fundamentals to deliver strong sequential growth in the fourth quarter."

4:09PM Marvell announces that Clyde Hosein has resigned as chief financial officer to pursue other opportunities (MRVL) 8.82 -0.17 : Co announced that after four years with Marvell, Clyde Hosein has resigned as chief financial officer to pursue other opportunities. Brad Feller, vice president and corporate controller, will serve as interim chief financial officer during a search for Mr. Hosein's replacement. Mr. Feller has served as Marvell's corporate controller since September 2008.

4:09PM Riverbed Technology beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line (RVBD) 20.66 -0.62 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.25; revenues rose 15.2% year/year to $218.6 mln vs the $216.74 mln consensus. Revenue grows 10% sequentially and 15% over prior year. Cash and investments grew by more than $100 million and totaled more than $670 million at September 30, 2012."

4:05PM Marvell lowers Q3 rev to $765-785 mln from $800-850 mln vs $815.58 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate (MRVL) 8.83 -0.17 : "The continued slowdown in the global economy during the third quarter is resulting in a weaker PC market than previously anticipated and thus lower demand from our storage HDD customers. Our SSD, networking, and mobile product revenues are tracking to be in line with prior expectations. In addition to the continued weak PC demand patterns, visibility in our other end markets remains low as we head into a seasonally softer fourth quarter."

4:04PM Lattice Semi reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q4 revs below consensus (LSCC) 3.50 -0.04 : Reports Q3 (Sep) net of breakeven, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate consensus of ($0.00); revenues fell 13.2% year/year to $70.9 mln vs the $70.84 mln consensus.

Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $69.5-72.3 vs. $73.78 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Gross margin percentage is expected to be approximately 51-55%. Total operating expenses are expected to be approximately $43 million, including approximately $5.5 million in restructuring charges.

4:04PM Microsoft reports Q1 results (MSFT) 29.49 -0.09 : Reports Q1 (Sep) non-GAAP earnings of $0.65 per share, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.63; GAAP EPS of $0.53 vs. $0.56 Capital IQ consensus; revenues fell 7.9% year/year to $16.01 bln, may not compare directly to the $16.42 bln consensus. Non-GAAP revs were $17.4 bln, including Revenue deferred for Windows Upgrade Offer, Windows 8 Pre-sales, and Office Offer.

Microsoft reaffirms fiscal year 2013 operating expense guidance of $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion.
These financial results reflect the deferral of $1.36 billion of revenue and $0.13 of diluted earnings per share, due to the Windows Upgrade Offer, pre-sales of Windows 8 to OEMs prior to general availability, and the Office Offer.

12:39PM Google releases Q3 earnings early in 8-K filing; co misses by $1.63, misses on revs (GOOG) 680.00 -75.49 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $9.03 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $1.63 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $10.66; revenues rose 19.3% year/year to $11.33 bln vs the $11.87 bln consensus.

Paid Clicks -- Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of Network members, increased ~33% YoY and increased ~6% QoQ.
Cost-Per-Click -- Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our Network members, decreased ~15% YoY and ~3% QoQ.
Motorola revenues were $2.58 billion ($1.78 billion from the mobile segment and $797 million from the home segment), or 18% of consolidated revenues in the third quarter of 2012.
As of September 30, 2012, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term marketable securities were $45.7 billion

10:45AM Lam Research aggressively extends gap higher start near its Aug close/intraday highs (LRCX) 35.62 +2.04 : Strong run after reporting last night has been extended to its three month close high from Aug at 35.73 (session high 35.70). The Aug intraday peak is at 35.99.

9:02AM Ultratech beats by $0.03, beats on revs (UTEK) 30.38 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.42; revenues rose 10.2% year/year to $60.5 mln vs the $59.26 mln consensus. "We achieved another quarter of strong financial results, and we believe the outlook for Ultratech remains bright."

8:33AM Jabil Circuit names new CEO (JBL) 17.72 : Co has appointed Mark T. Mondello as CEO, effective March 1. Mondello was also nominated to stand for election to the board of directors at the company's annual meeting of shareholders in January 2013. Mondello, currently the company's COO, will succeed Timothy L. Main as part of a planned and orderly executive succession. The Board anticipates Main will be appointed Chairman of the Board at the co's annual meeting in January 2013. Co also announced that its Chairman of the Board, William D. Morean, will not stand for re-election to the Board at the company's annual meeting of shareholders in January 2013. The Board also announced that it anticipates that current President & Chief Executive Officer Timothy L. Main will be appointed Chairman immediately following Morean's departure. Main will remain President & CEO until March 2013 as part of a planned and orderly executive succession.

8:12AM Cypress Semi completes tender offer for Ramtron (RMTR) (CY) 10.97 :

7:37AM Fairchild Semi beats by $0.08, misses on revs; guides Q4 revs below consensus; co's scheduled backlog is nearly sufficient to achieve the low end of this range (FCS) 12.46 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.25 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.08 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.17; revenues fell 11.0% year/year to $358.8 mln vs the $368.77 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q4, sees Q4 revs of $330-350 mln vs. $380.07 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.

Co said, "Our current scheduled backlog is nearly sufficient to achieve the low end of this range."


7:10AM Nokia beats by $0.03, beats on revs (NOK) 2.94 : Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of 0.07 per share, 0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of ( 0.10); revenues fell 19.4% year/year to 7.24 bln vs the 6.97 bln consensus. Nokia Group achieves operating profitability on an underlying basis, with Q3 non-IFRS operating margin of 1.1%. Nokia Siemens Networks non-IFRS operating margin significantly improved q/q and y/y to 9.2% in Q3; Devices & Services Q3 non-IFRS operating margin improved q/q to negative 7.4%. Nokia Group ended Q3 with gross cash of EUR 8.8 billion and net cash of EUR 3.6 billion. Nokia Group Q3 net cash from operating activities of negative EUR 429 million, including cash outflows related to restructuring activities of approximately EUR 390 million.

Outlook
Nokia expects its non-IFRS Devices & Services operating margin in the fourth quarter 2012 to be approximately negative 6%, plus or minus four percentage points. This outlook is based on expectations regarding a number of factors. An expected increase in Devices & Services operating expenses as a result of new product launches, partially offset by expected cost reductions under our restructuring program; and Nokia expects the fourth quarter 2012 to be a challenging quarter in Smart Devices, with a lower-than-normal benefit from seasonality in volumes, primarily due to product transitions and our ramp up plan for our new devices.

Nokia continues to target to reduce its Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses to an annualized run rate of approximately EUR 3.0 billion by the end of 2013. Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks expect Nokia Siemens Networks non-IFRS operating margin in the fourth quarter 2012 to be approximately positive 8%, plus or minus four percentage points.

ST-Ericsson (STM, ERIC) announced that a recent addition to the Samsung (SSNLF) GALAXY smartphone line - the Samsung GALAXY S III mini - is powered by the ST-Ericsson NovaThor ModAp platform.

Mellanox Tech (MLNX $81.74 -16.15) reported third quarter earnings of $1.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.25 better than the Capital IQ consensus of $1.12, while revenues rose 129.6% year/year to $156.5 million versus the $152.8 million consensus and versus prior guidance of $150-155 million. Non-GAAP operating margin came in at 38.9%. As usual, co does not provide guidance, should guide for Q4 revs on the call at the top of the hour.

Align Tech (ALGN $28.45 -6.96) reported third quarter earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ consensus of $0.29, while revenues rose 8.4% year/year to $136.5 million versus the $140.77 mln consensus. The company issued downside guidance for fourth quarter with EPS of $0.21-0.23 versus the $0.31 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate and revenues of $134.2-137.8 versus the $147.88 million consensus. The discontinuation of Align's distribution relationship with Straumann in Europe and North America, announced in a separate press release today, and the decline in results of operations of the Company's Scanner and CAD/CAM Services reporting unit triggers the risk of impairment of goodwill associated with the acquisition of Cadent. As a result, Align is in the process of conducting step one of a goodwill impairment test as prescribed by GAAP. Any difference between an estimate and the final step two evaluation, would be recorded in the fourth quarter 2012. The Company's evaluation could result in a non-cash impairment charge for a substantial portion of the $135.3 million book value of goodwill which would negatively affect net income although revenue and cash flow from operations would not be impacted. "Q3 is historically a slower period for North American GP Dentists and International doctors due to summer vacations. This year summer seasonality was more pronounced in North America and as a result, we did not see the expected ramp in Invisalign cases for GP Dentists and Orthodontists. This softness has continued through October and is reflected in our Q4 guidance, which despite that slowdown, still projects a healthy annual growth rate for the company overall, with volume growth of at least 16%.

eBay (EBAY $48.41 +0.44) reported third quarter earnings of $0.55 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ consensus Estimate of $0.54, while revenues rose 14.8% year/year to $3.4 billion versus the $3.4 billion consensus. The company issued in-line guidance for the fourth quarter with EPS of $0.66-0.69, excluding non-recurring items, versus the $0.68 consensus and revenues of $3.85-4.0 billion versus the $3.94 billion consensus. PayPal delivered a strong Q3 performance. It ended the quarter with 117.4 million active registered accounts, a 14% increase over the third quarter of 2011. Revenue increased 23% year over year and net total payment volume (TPV) grew 20% year over year to $35.2 billion. Marketplaces delivered another strong quarter with accelerating user growth. Gross merchandise volume (GMV), excluding vehicles, increased 11% year over year to $16 billion in the third quarter of 2012. Marketplaces revenue increased 9% year over year, driven by strong growth in the United States and Asia Pacific. Active user growth continued to accelerate during the quarter, reaching 10% year over year, the fastest growth since 2007, with 800,000 new users coming from mobile. This helped boost sold items growth, which was up 19% year over year.

Xilinx (XLNX $33.98 +0.02) reported second quarter earnings of GAAP $0.46 per share, $0.05 better than the GAAP Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.41, while revenues fell 2.0% year/year to $543.9 million versus the $548.04 mln consensus. The company sees Q3 revenue down 1-5% sequentially, which equates to roughly $516.7-538.5 million versus the $561.79 million consensus; sees gross margin of ~66%. "Sales from our industry-leading, All Programmable 28-nm products exceeded $20 million during the quarter with sales from all five family members. Our 28-nm product portfolio is the industry's broadest; and design win activity for all five family members continues to be exceptionally strong across a broad base of end markets and applications. This is particularly impressive given the backdrop of a challenging macroeconomic environment."

Nokia (NOK $2.84 -0.10) reported a third quarter loss of €0.07 per share, €0.03 better than the Capital IQ consensus of (€0.10), while revenues fell 19.4% year/year to EUR 7.24 billion versus the €6.97 bln consensus. Nokia Group achieves operating profitability on an underlying basis, with Q3 non-IFRS operating margin of 1.1%. Nokia Siemens Networks non-IFRS operating margin significantly improved q/q and y/y to 9.2% in Q3; Devices & Services Q3 non-IFRS operating margin improved q/q to negative 7.4%. Nokia Group ended Q3 with gross cash of EUR 8.8 billion and net cash of EUR 3.6 billion. Nokia Group Q3 net cash from operating activities of negative EUR 429 million, including cash outflows related to restructuring activities of approximately EUR 390 million. Nokia expects its non-IFRS Devices & Services operating margin in the fourth quarter 2012 to be approximately negative 6%, plus or minus four percentage points. This outlook is based on expectations regarding a number of factors. An expected increase in Devices & Services operating expenses as a result of new product launches, partially offset by expected cost reductions under our restructuring program; and Nokia expects the fourth quarter 2012 to be a challenging quarter in Smart Devices, with a lower-than-normal benefit from seasonality in volumes, primarily due to product transitions and our ramp up plan for our new devices. Nokia continues to target to reduce its Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses to an annualized run rate of approximately EUR 3.0 billion by the end of 2013. Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks expect Nokia Siemens Networks non-IFRS operating margin in the fourth quarter 2012 to be approximately positive 8%, plus or minus four percentage points.

12:20 pm S&P Tech sector long today in line with losses in the overall market

The tech sector is trading lower today, trailing narrower losses in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing relative weakness as well with the SOX trading 0.8% lower. Within the chip index, CRUS (-3.5%) is a notable laggard. Among other major indices, the SPY is trading 0.2% lower today, while the QQQ and the NASDAQ are trading 0.5% lower on the session. Among tech bellwethers, VZ (+1.9%) is showing strength, while FB (-1.9%) is showing notable weakness.

In tech earnings last night, MLNX (-21.2%) posted a Q3 beat, but issued downside guidance. LRCX (+6.3%) and XLNX (-1.0%) reported quarterly beats, but guided below consensus. This morning, NOK (-2.4%) posted a Q3 beat and VZ (+1.9%) reported an inline qtr. Elsewhere, ADS (+2.7%) and NTCT (+6.3%) reported quarterly beats and raised guidance, FCS (+1.4%) posted a mixed Q3 and guided below consensus, and CY (-5.7%) reported an line qtr and guided below consensus. In news, PANW (-5.0%) priced a 4.8 mln shares of common stock at $63.00 per share. VZ (+1.9%) on its conference call said it activated 3.1 mln AAPL (-1.0%) iPhones in the quarter. Among rumors, there is JNPR (+3.0%) takeover chatter making the rounds.

In notable analyst upgrades this morning in the tech space, Macquarie upgraded TIBX (+1.3%) to Outperform. Among downgrades, ASML (+2.8%) was downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC and LLTC (-2.1%) was downgraded to Neutral at Nomura. Also of note, BWS Financial initiated ELLI (-5.2%) with a Sell. AMD (-1.8%), FLEX (-1.2%), GOOG (-0.4%), MSFT (-0.5%), and SNDK (-0.3%) are the notable names in tech scheduled to report quarterly results today after the close.